Travel to school
Using Adelaide Metro school bus services to get to and from school helps kids build their independence and gives parents and carers flexibility too.
Many schools around Adelaide have partnered with Adelaide Metro to set up dedicated school bus services. Only students, teachers, parents or carers accompanying a student to their school can travel on these school bus services.
How to find school bus routes
Speak with your school about school transportation or search by school name to find a timetable. Please note, any school bus services run by private companies will not be displayed on the Adelaide Metro website.
If there are no dedicated school bus routes for your school, use our journey planner to plan your journey to school with public transport.
Before you start, work together with your child to:
- Find the right school bus route.
- Plan how to get to and from school bus services, such as the route they’ll walk, street safety, footpaths and lighting
- Learn how to catch a bus with Adelaide Metro, including getting on and off the vehicle, paying a fare and how passengers should behave
- Pick the right fare for you, such as a metroCARD.
- Work out what is need to do when things don’t go to plan, including:
- if a metroCARD is lost or stolen,
- if there are any service disruptions and the bus, train or tram is delayed,
- missing the bus, train or tram,
- catching the wrong bus, train or tram,
- getting off at the wrong stop or station,
- who to contact when they need help, such as a grandparent or trusted friend.
Doing practice runs together with your child is a great way to build confidence and ensure systems you’ve put in place work for you.
Supervise younger children on the way to the stop, station or interchange, and hold hands when crossing the road. To ensure your child is safe on public transport, remind them to:
- STOP and take one step back from the kerb.
- LOOK both ways for traffic.
- LISTEN for the sounds of approaching traffic.
- THINK about whether it is safe to cross.
At the end of the journey, make sure your child knows where to walk or wait, and who will be meeting them. Wait on the same side of the road or platform that they will leave the service, then cross the road or track safely together.
- Give your child a list of important phone numbers, in case something goes wrong, and explain where they can make a phone call if they don’t have a mobile phone.
- If your child has a mobile phone, make sure to let each other know where you are and when they are expected to arrive.
- Arrange for your child to travel with friends and family members if possible.
